How can you tell the difference between muscle pain and something serious?

Muscle soreness should not last longer than five days. Seek medical attention if the pain doesn't subside after a week, the injured area feels numb, or you are unable to walk or move your arms or legs. These symptoms could indicate a bigger issue, such as damage to your joints or muscles.
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How do I know if it's muscle pain or something else?

With pain, your joints or muscles may become very stiff if you rest or sit for a long time. Injury pain may not go away on its own. Pain also can change how you move. If you limp because of pain or favor one shoulder over the other, it may be a sign of an injury.
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How do you know if muscle pain is serious?

Muscle pain from minor injuries, stress or exercise is usually helped with simple home treatment. Muscle pain from severe injuries or systemic disease is often serious and requires medical care.
...
When to see a doctor
  1. Trouble breathing or dizziness.
  2. Extreme muscle weakness.
  3. A high fever and stiff neck.
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When should you seek medical attention for muscle pain?

Other warning signs that it's time for medical attention include redness or swelling that may indicate an infection, high fever along with muscle or joint pain, increased muscle pain after you start taking medication, trouble breathing, and/or muscle weakness.
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What diseases cause muscle pain?

Autoimmune diseases that cause muscle pain include: Inflammatory myopathies, such as inclusion body myositis and polymyositis. Lupus. Multiple sclerosis (MS).
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Injury Pain or Basic Muscle Soreness: How to Tell the Difference



What causes constant muscle pain?

Poor posture, stress and overuse of muscles. Exercise (overexercise, poor techniques that may lead to stress on muscles) Performing work activities using poor techniques that can lead to repetitive stress injuries. Anxiety and depression which can cause increased muscle tension, leading to significant myofascial pain.
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What body aches occur with Covid?

As you're recovering from COVID-19, you might have joint or muscle pain. Staying in bed for more than a couple of days ca​n lead to stiff joints and muscle weakness. They may ache, burn, or feel tired, stiff, or sore.
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Why is my muscle pain not going away?

When to see a doctor. Make an appointment with your doctor if you experience muscle pain that doesn't go away. Nearly everyone experiences muscle pain from time to time. But if your muscle pain persists despite rest, massage and similar self-care measures, make an appointment with your doctor.
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Does COVID-19 affect muscles?

COVID-19 is described as a multiorgan disease that affects not only the respiratory tract of infected individuals, but it has considerable effects on the musculoskeletal system, causing excessive fatigue, myalgia, arthralgia, muscle weakness and skeletal muscle damage.
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What does fibromyalgia pain feel like?

Your muscles may feel like they have been overworked or pulled even though you haven't exercised. Sometimes, your muscles will twitch. Other times they will burn or ache with deep stabbing pain. Some patients with fibromyalgia have pain and achiness around the joints in their neck, shoulders, back, and hips.
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Is muscle pain a post Covid symptoms?

Some people experience severe shoulder and arm problems after COVID, especially those who have been in hospital. These problems can be a combination of pain, stiffness, numbness in the arms and weakness in some muscles.
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Can COVID cause back and leg pain?

It could be that COVID-19 causes inflammation which, coupled with muscle pain, manifests as back pain, which is the most common musculoskeletal complaint.
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Does COVID affect your legs?

You may get pain in your arms, legs, or back that develops spontaneously with no injury. Typically, in a coronavirus infection, the pain is in muscles rather than in joints. But if you have an arthritic joint in your arm or leg, the virus may exaggerate the symptoms. The pain may be severe and limiting.
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Can muscle pain last for months?

Although most muscle aches and pains go away on their own within a short time, sometimes muscle pain can linger for months. Muscle pain can develop almost anywhere in your body, including your neck, back, legs and even your hands.
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What doctor treats muscle pain?

If you have muscle pain as the result of an injury or condition, or even if you have no idea how it started, schedule an appointment with an orthopedic physician at the Center for Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine.
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Does muscle pain move around?

With time, pain can spread from one part of the body to another, shift, expand or radiate, making treatment even harder. One common way that pain spreads to other parts of the body is by overcompensation, where we change our movement patterns in order to compensate the injured or hurt part of the body.
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What are symptoms of mild COVID?

The National Institutes of Health guidelines for treatment categorize mild COVID as" [i]ndividuals who have any of the various signs and symptoms of COVID-19 (e.g., fever, cough, sore throat, malaise, headache, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of taste and smell) but who do not have shortness of breath, ...
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Do COVID patients have joint pain?

Recent research published in The Lancet in October 2020 finds that nearly 15 percent of COVID-19 patients report experiencing joint pain.
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Can you have muscle aches without a fever?

The most common cause of body aches without a fever include stress and sleep deprivation. If you have body aches without a fever, it could still be a sign of a viral infection like the flu. If your body aches are severe or last more than a few days, you should see your doctor.
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How do you treat severe muscle pain?

To help relieve muscle soreness, try:
  1. Gentle stretching.
  2. Muscle massage.
  3. Rest.
  4. Ice to help reduce inflammation.
  5. Heat to help increase blood flow to your muscles. ...
  6. Over-the-counter (OTC) pain medicine, such as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) like ibuprofen (brand name: Advil).
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Does anxiety cause muscle pain?

Anxiety causes the muscles to tense up, which can lead to pain and stiffness in almost any area of the body. Constant stress and worry can also prevent the immune system from working properly, leading to decreased resistance to infection and disease.
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What are the 18 signs of fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia also causes a number of other symptoms, such as:
  • fatigue.
  • lack of energy.
  • trouble sleeping.
  • depression or anxiety.
  • memory problems and trouble concentrating (sometimes called “fibro fog”)
  • headaches.
  • muscle twitches or cramps.
  • numbness or tingling in the hands and feet.
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How do you relieve COVID muscle pain?

Smith suggests Tylenol (acetaminophen). Oral medications aren't the only option—topical treatments such as Biofreeze and Voltaren, which was recently made available over the counter—can also provide relief.
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Can a virus cause muscle pain?

Infectious or post-infectious reactive myositis can occur during and after some viral infections. Even after the virus has gone, the immune system may cause inflammation in some parts of the body for a few months. Symptoms are similar to those of polymyositis, such as muscle pain and weakness.
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Is joint pain a symptom of long COVID?

You may experience pain after coronavirus, especially if you were in hospital or less active than usual as a result of the virus. Most pain should eventually go away, but sometimes it might carry on for longer.
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